S&P ends flat as healthcare advance offset by lower oil

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 ended the day unchanged on Tuesday as lower oil prices hurt energy stocks, offsetting advances in healthcare and financial sectors, while the Nasdaq ended at another record high.

The Dow’s 20,000 milestone remained elusive as it was weighed down by declines in IBM (IBM.N), Merck & Co (MRK.N), Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) and Procter & Gamble (PG.N).

Traders were holding fire ahead of the upcoming corporate earnings season and the Jan. 20 inauguration after which they expect a better sense as to whether President-elect Donald Trump will fulfil campaign promises of fiscal stimulus, lower tax and lighter regulation.

“Investors are now waiting for the inauguration and the first 100-day agenda,” said Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at brokerage Convergex in New York. “They just want a little more information about what the new administration is planning before the Dow takes the plunge over 20,000. There’s a lot of high expectations about what happens after January 20.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI ended down 31.85 points, or 0.16 percent, at 19,855.53, the S&P 500 .SPX was unchanged at 2,268.9 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 20.00 points, or 0.36 percent, to 5,551.82.

Following a 9 percent jump in the S&P since Nov. 4, investors will also monitor earnings season, which starts this week, to assess if the record levels are justified.

“We’ve shifted from that exuberance post the election and the rotation into some of the sectors and now we are entering a wait-and-see mode with earnings knocking at the front door,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Equity Capital Markets in News York.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) shortly after the opening bell in New York, U.S., January 9, 2017. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

“Earnings may be the pivot to move things higher.”

S&P 500 companies are set to post their strongest quarterly growth in three years, with earnings estimated to have risen 5.8 percent in the fourth quarter, mainly driven by financials, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.